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Blake Griffin Traded To Detroit Pistons

The five-time All-Star, who was also the first pick of the 2009 NBA draft, was traded to the Detroit Pistons on Monday. The Clippers will receive Avery Bradley, Tobias Harris, Boban Marjanovic and a future first and second round pick.

Los Angeles is also sending reserves Brice Johnson and Willie Reed to Detroit. According to ESPN, trade talks between the teams began last week but picked up recently. That coincides with the Pistons making Bradley available in trade talks which became public early on Monday.

Griffin just signed a five-year $173 million contract this offseason during his first venture into unrestricted free agent. Assuming Detroit keeps him, Stan Van Gundy will have him under contract through the 2020-21 season with a player option for 2021-22.

Per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the Clippers had three goals in searching for trades and, in their minds, they accomplished these three with the Griffin trade to Detroit:

For Clippers, three objectives with the trade were these: Stay competitive on the floor (two starters, Harris and Bradley). Get young players/draft picks and create some payroll flexibility. Organization isn't interested in bottoming out and tanking.

Griffin is averaging the second most PPG in his career, but his production has never been a problem. A player's best ability is his availability and Griffin has run into bad luck with injuries recently. He's missed 99 games over the last four seasons including 16 already this year.

The Clippers are currently the No. 9 seed in the Western Conference and have been playing their best as of late. They have won seven of their last 10 games and are just one game out of the No. 8 seed.

Los Angeles appears to be battling for the playoffs while also looking towards the future at the same time. In addition to trading Griffin, the team is also listening to offers for DeAndre Jordan and Lou Williams.

In addition to calling Detroit home, Griffin will also have to get used to maintaining a long-distance relationship. His move from Los Angeles creates quite a distance between he and his girlfriend back in LA, Kendall Jenner.